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Political Endorsements by the OC Register

You’ll read it time and again in the Orange County Register.Ã‚Â They don’t endorse specific candidates for specific office.Ã‚Â And while that’s true, it’s not accurate.

The Register’s editorial writers and a number of columnists and certainly their local editorial cartoonist routinely fall back to old line positions and prejudices on liberals, progressives and Democrats.Ã‚Â We’re leftists, socialists, and liberal (say it like you might hear someone use a racial slur).Ã‚Â Their criticism of the Governor is that he is “too liberal” and embraces a leftist position (like that’s a criticism or something).Ã‚Â

Ã‚Â Its the sort of bias that routinely comes through in column after column, in blog entry after blog entry.Ã‚Â But I usually say most conservatives have no problem with media bias as long as its conservative media bias.

It is true the Register doesn’t endorse specific canddiates.Ã‚Â But they certainly make it clear which political ideaology is not acceptable to them and whcih candidates embrace that particular ideaology.Ã‚Â They also endorse candidates based on what doesn’t run in the paper.Ã‚Â The wonderful thing about having a two paper town is to see how radically different some stories are treated from an editorial perspective and from where they are on the page or in the paper (if its a story that’s negative about a Republican, chances are its inside…).Ã‚Â

I personally think the Register should drop the pretense of objectivity and simply endorse– by name — those candidates that they endorse via innuendo; that, or hire a coupe of liberal columnists to at least play lip service to the growing number of progressives and Democrats in the market.Ã‚Â But with budget cuts and possible layoffs looming, new hires at the Register will be rare.